"Parents based in north London wants to find an remarkable and qualified tutor to assist their smallest child on his first steps to growing into an British gentleman."
Upon seeing this listing, you might readily skip the phrase "first-steps" as mere figurative language.
However, it might be the most important element of this unusual employment listing, as it attempts to recruit a tutor for a one-year-old.
Many of applications have now been submitted since the unnamed family advertised their search for the £180,000 per year tutor, who needs to be "someone very special".
During the past few weeks, the listing has received interest throughout the press, with numerous questioning why?
Progressive Approach
Adam Caller, chief executive of Tutors International, which is assisting the family in their quest, said that notwithstanding initial scepticism, he found the plan "visionary", and "advanced".
When he met the family, he mentioned they appreciated the unusual nature of their requirement, and how immature their son is.
But, they clarified that they "were unwilling to delay any longer" to get a tutor, as they had postponed until their older child was five, and by that age "cultural influence had already taken hold".
What exactly did the family refer to by "cultural bias"?
It's "comprehensive", the expert replied. "The manner you eat, how you speak".
He explained the firstborn had absorbed "really subtle, non-verbal cues" from the family, and had assumed their cultural ways. The family told him they did not want history to repeat itself with their new baby.
The strategy: To hire a English tutor, who must speak with Received Pronunciation, to influence the baby from the very start.
Subtle Influence
"A lot of the education at the start here is somewhat osmotic," said the CEO.
It's by means of this subtle influence that the family are expecting the child will adopt the UK customs they wish to impart.
Adam explained the tutor must be an individual who studied at "the right kinds of schools – similar types of schools as the family plan to send their son to".
"The instructor must be the right kind of person, they'll be doing things they aren't even aware they're doing, just naturally," he said.
Expense Not a Factor
The family told Adam the successful candidate should preferably also have knowledge of or enthusiasm in equestrian activities, skiing, the arts and music so as to inspire the child in a broad spectrum of hobbies.
More than that though, he explained the family wanted the tutor to sign up the child on a selection of lessons so the child would be "horseback riding and learning an instrument by the time they are approximately three years old".
In the family's view, assisting their son grow into a "UK sophisticate" will result in success and open doors.
"Considering the pros and cons of that, because it's undoubtedly a status symbol," he notes.
But, notwithstanding all this tutelage in "UK identity", might the child adopt alleged cultural influence from the globally influenced family he is raised by regardless?
"Certainly", answered Adam. "They realize this may not work, but they've merely embraced the perspective of, 'we should try and let's go as quickly as we can', because the price of it is irrelevant," he said.
Overly Optimistic
There are some in the education sector who have those concerns.
Peter Cui, CEO and founder of a tutoring service, who provides private tutors, commented that "the process of embracing two identities, or indeed, forming one's identity, is something that must be grown into, not manufactured."
He wrote that he had relocated from China to the UK at the age of childhood, and had been brought up knowing and practicing both cultures. He continued to learn at the University of Cambridge.
"The notion that a single person can function as a representation of UK identity, a person who can somehow transplant the characteristics of a British gentleman upon a infant child, seems to me idealistic and unrealistic," he wrote.
"Based on my background, having a typically English tutor from babyhood will not automatically produce the goal they want.
"I never had such a figure, and yet I have been lucky enough to live several of the opportunities they desire for their son."
He stated: "The reality is, self-identity can not be dictated from the outside influences; it must be selected, and it must be internally driven."
Acquiring Englishness
Of course, English culture is something the expert hopes can be instructed – and commercialized.
"I think the situation that the world holds us in this respect is something that we should be cherishing|valuing|appreciating
